


livin' off the land

by steepedinwords



Series: we move lightly [3]
Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Bisexual main character, F/F, Slice of Life, foraging, slight deviations from canon, writing soft girls in love is my new favourite thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 07:50:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12883371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steepedinwords/pseuds/steepedinwords
Summary: Jenny learns to find wild food, crushes hopelessly on a cute redhead, and learns that she and Leah aren't so different.





	livin' off the land

**Author's Note:**

> I like the idea that Leah shows the farmer the best forage spots, instead of just vaguely encouraging them.  
> Warnings: None, unless you're offended by bashing of Henry David Thoreau. (I realise that Stardew Valley is not set in our world, but I figure every world has a Thoreau.)

Living in the Valley isn’t easy, not by a long shot. Jenny is up from dawn till nightfall most days, till she falls into bed from exhaustion. She spends most mornings before the sun gets hot tending her tiny plants -- they’re coming along beautifully with a little help from the fertiliser Pierre told her how to mix and from Marnie’s gift of manure mixed in with the soil, and Jenny couldn’t be prouder. She likes pulling weeds before they can get big enough to choke her seedlings, crumbling the soft dry dirt in her fingers, hauling water from the pond in Papa’s old watering can that keeps springing leaks. Sometimes she catches herself very gently petting the new leaves her little beans and potatoes are putting out. Kneeling in the dirt in her mud-caked jeans and an old t-shirt, she feels whole, rooted to the earth in a way she could never feel back in the concrete of the city.

When the farm work is done, there’s more. Errands to run for people in the village -- Granny Evelyn wanting some wild leeks, or Robin paying her to cut down some hardwood for the shop. There are always stones and saplings to clear from her little patch of land. (Almost enough stones piled up behind the shed for Robin’s promised well, now.) And Jenny likes to explore the woods down below her farm in the afternoons, if she’s not too tired. The fireplace in her little cottage goes through wood quicker than you’d think, so she’s always on the lookout for dead, dry tree branches she can easily haul home. Carrying a bundle of branches tied with rope over her shoulder makes her feel like an old woman in a fairytale. She’s trying to save money on wood so she can afford to pay Robin to renovate things around the farm, but it’s slow going. 

It’s usually cool in Cindersap Forest, the green leaves blocking the strongest sunbeams and dappling the forest floor’s blanket of pine needles in golden light and shadow. It’s not just wood Jenny is after, here. She remembers Papa, on that long-ago visit, making food from wild things he’d found in the woods - roasted nuts, a salad of wild greens. She knows he must have found them out here, but she doesn’t know enough about what she’s looking for to really know what she’s looking for, and it’s frustrating. Jenny is used to turning to books for answers, but Papa didn’t leave any, and Gunther at the tiny library in the village said something vague about lost library books and didn’t have anything helpful to offer.

It’s nearly summer, and Jenny’s been out several times to look for food with no luck. She’s getting tired. She’s almost out of peanut butter and bread at home, and really hoping for a change for dinner. Jenny scuffs her work boots through the pine needles, which stubbornly refuse to change into anything edible, and sighs. Another wasted afternoon. She flops down onto an old stump. Looks like peanut butter again tonight. Some backwoodsman she is.

“You look down.” A soft voice startles Jenny from her thoughts. Looking up, she sees Leah, a canvas satchel slung over her shoulder, hands in her overalls pockets, looking prettier than anyone with twigs in her hair and dirt under her fingernails has a right to. (That’s uncharitable, and Jenny’s a fine one to talk; the dirt under her own fingernails has become a permanent fixture and she keeps forgetting to buy a nailbrush at Pierre’s.) Jenny cheers up a little at the sight of Leah, who’s been good company the few times they’ve hung out, though Jenny’s not quite over being tongue-tied around her. She’s just really pretty, and smart, and kind. 

“I’m okay,” she says. “Nice to see you. I - I didn’t know you liked the woods too.”

She feels like kicking herself the moment the words leave her mouth, as if she’s implying that Cindersap is her forest and asking why Leah is there at all. _Way to go, Jenny. _“I mean - I’m looking for food.” She goes even redder. “Not that I don’t have food at home - I’m just - ” She stutters to a stop. Leah rescues her.__

____

____

__“Oh, were you looking for forage?” Her heart-shaped face has lit up. “I love finding food out in the wild. There’s so much out here, if you just know where to look.”_ _

__“That’s where I’m having trouble,” Jenny says, standing to give herself time to think. _Why are words always so hard when I’m with someone I like so much? _“My Papa - I remember he used to find food out here, but I can’t, I just don’t know what to look for. I wouldn’t know poisonous mushrooms from good ones, I don’t know what greens are good to eat, I just can’t find anything.” Tears of frustration spring to her eyes.___ _

____“Oh, honey.” Leah crosses the space between them. She seems nervous too, or maybe just shy, or some of both, like Jenny. “I - I could show you some good places, if you like?”_ _ _ _

____“Really?” Jenny asks eagerly. “Are you sure you have time? I thought you sketched in the afternoons…” She nods at Leah’s satchel._ _ _ _

____“The lake will still be there to sketch tomorrow,” Leah says matter-of-factly. “So! Right here isn’t a good place, because it’s all pine trees.” She points through the trees. “Out there’s where most of the good stuff is. I found some fresh asparagus yesterday.”_ _ _ _

____Jenny feels a little lighter. Leah seems to know what she’s doing with wild plants. With her help, maybe Jenny can manage not to poison herself. Her mouth waters at the thought of fresh asparagus._ _ _ _

____They walk together to the shoreline of the lake. Jenny stuffs her hands into her pockets, feeling self-conscious with her farmer’s tan already showing brown halfway down her arms, her shoulders left white in the plaid shirt of Papa’s she’d cut the sleeves off. Her nose is peeling too, and her arms are scraped and scabbed from hauling logs home. Oh well. She was pretty bruised and beat up when she and Leah first met, too. Jenny sighs as they reach the lakeside._ _ _ _

____“I know,” Leah says, misunderstanding the sigh. “Isn’t it beautiful? I could spend all my time out here. I’m so lucky to live in the forest.”_ _ _ _

____It _is _a lovely beach. Tiny ripples lap at the pebbles on the shoreline, and there are ducks floating placidly out on the water. Some of them are loons, if the mournful calls Jenny hears at night sometimes are anything to go by. Willy the old fisherman is sitting at the end of the dock on a folding chair. He waves, and the two girls wave back but don’t go over. Jenny has tried fishing, at Willy’s instigation, but it’s fiddly and she’s not very good at it yet. Willy is nice, though.___ _ _ _

______“There’s the bridge,” Leah says, pointing to a couple of weather-beaten planks leading out across the shining water. “The third island is where I mostly find things.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______They make their way through the maze of bridges and small islands. Leah pulls up one of the cattails growing at the water’s edge. “Here,” she says. “The roots are kinda like potatoes, if you boil them, and you can eat this spiky thing at the top raw.” She laughs at Jenny’s face. “It’s good, I promise!”_ _ _ _ _ _

______There really is a lot out here. Springy strands of chickweed and tender spears of asparagus. Tiny wild onions. Brown mushrooms with velvety tops from a patch near the base of an oak tree._ _ _ _ _ _

______“See,” Leah says, carefully snipping the smallest dandelion leaves from the plant with her fingernails. “If you always leave a little, and don’t take the whole patch, they’ll grow back sooner than you know it. Although dandelions will always come back anyhow, the roots are hard to kill. If you bring a shovel sometime, you could make tea out of the roots. Or even wine.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“How do you know all this stuff?” Jenny asks. “Did you teach yourself?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“My granny did, actually,” Leah says. “I inherited my cabin from her. She was a naturalist, and we used to come out here for summers when I was a teenager. Kind of like Thoreau, but not an asshole.” Leah flushes a little. “Sorry. Um, she’d write about plants, and I’d draw them for her. She had a bunch of books published, even. I have some at home, if you ever want to see.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Wow. Yes, I would.” That is seriously pretty amazing. “What happened to her?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“She’s gone now,” Leah says, a shadow passing over her face. “A few years ago. She left me the cabin, and I moved down here not long after.” There are tears in Leah’s eyes._ _ _ _ _ _

______“I’m sorry.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Leah laughs a little shakily and stands. “Thanks. At least I get to live surrounded by her work every day. I’m pretty lucky.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Jenny stands, stretching from her crouch to pick things, and then picks up her bag and looks inside. “I think this is enough. More than enough, really.” She hangs the bag over her shoulder carefully, trying not to bruise any of the greens. “Thank you so much, Leah. I would never have found these on my own.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Leah visibly shakes off the sadness, and smiles back at her. “I usually walk around and pick things fresh every day. I love being out where I can get my own food from the world around me. I’m glad I could show you, actually. I forget how lucky I am sometimes, and it’s nice to be reminded.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______They head back the way they came. Jenny hops a broken spot in one of the planks, feeling euphoric. “I owe you, though, Leah. It’s gonna be so good to eat something fresh. I’m really looking forward to it. A-and I had a good time with you. Thanks.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Leah snags her artist’s satchel from the tree branch where she’d left it. Willy is gone from the dock, and the sun is sinking low in the sky. The two girls stand there looking at each other for a minute, smiling, shy. Leah reaches out a hesitant hand._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Mud on your face,” she says quietly. Jenny’s breath catches as Leah carefully swipes her thumb across Jenny’s cheekbone once, twice. Her hand is cool on Jenny’s sunburned skin._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Thanks,” she says. Her chest feels warm, slow sunshine uncurling in her ribcage. “Um. Good night.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______One more smile, and they’ve parted ways._ _ _ _ _ _

______It’s not till Jenny is home, cooking the mushrooms and onion over the fire to eat on toast, that she remembers about the books Leah promised to show her. The thought makes the corner of her mouth lift in a small smile. At least she has an excuse to go by Leah’s cabin again soon._ _ _ _ _ _


End file.
